This document discusses the need for organizations to optimize their data centers given economic pressures to do more with less resources. Many data centers are approaching capacity for power and cooling and struggle with capacity planning and disaster recovery. It also outlines various components of data center infrastructure that must be carefully managed like racks, switches, and HVAC systems to prevent overload conditions. Finally, it discusses how server virtualization enables disaster recovery across data centers by allowing instances to exist across locations, simplifying failover.

1. DATA CENTERS

2. The Need11 March 20102Every organization is under pressure to accomplish more with less resources (financial, technologically, and human capital)

3. Many are finding that specific targets for reduction have been set, especially in the near term

4. Server and storage growth do not appear to be keeping pace with economic times – in some cases, the needs for technology are on the rise

5. Server sprawl continues in a lot of cases – even with virtualized servers

6. The impact of storage growth is stressing backup and recovery subsystems and the frequency of missed backup windows remains for many

7. The typical data center will run out of power and cooling – many already have

8. Facilities and IT continue to struggle with an integrated capacity planning approach

9. Disaster recovery is something most organizations “hope” they can achieve, but wouldn’t want to test it

10. Each of these areas require attention, but in today’s economic times, how do you prioritize?Data Center Components11 March 20103People & ProcessData CentresServersInfrastructureManagementStoragePower & CoolingBackupSecurityNetwork

11. Data Center InfrastructureData Centers are valuable resources as they get close to capacity those resources must be carefully managedInfrastructure includesRacksSwitches and switch portsVLANsPatch panels and cables (of all types)Power utilization and monitoringGeneratorsHigh voltage power components HVAC componentsBy accurately tracking the usage of systems and their placement in the data center we can ensure that overload conditions do not occur 4BMS

14. IBM Ethernet Product FamiliesIBM m-series Ethernet/IP routersIBM s-series Ethernet switchesIPv4 & IPv6 options, L2, L3 & POE upgradeableIPv4/IPv6, Full L2/L3, POS/SDH, MPLS, Carrier-grade QoSIBM c-series Ethernet switchesIBM g-series Ethernet switchesL2, L3 upgradeable, high-performance Metro access switchL2 edge switch, POE & stacking options